Spotted playing for Brighton & Hove reserves, Buckley was drafted into the Villa squad in 1906, and went on to establish himself as a regular first-teamer. Buckley played 40 times in the league championship-winning season 1909-10, even scoring a rare goal along the way (he only ever bagged three for the club). However he fell out of favour and barely played after 1912, missing out on the 1913 FA Cup win. Villa sold him to Arsenal, just as World War I was breaking out, and although he represented them for a couple of years after the war, his true calling was at Villa. He came back to serve on the board of directors in 1936 and was later chairman of the club. He didn't relinquish his seat until the turbulent year of 1967.